


World Renown Artist RAINBOW Extraordinaire, The Genius & Beautiful Daria

by shinmegaymer (frontierpodiatrist)



Category: Rune Factory (Video Games), Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
Genre: Best Friends, Established Relationship, F/M, Kids, Sibling Bonding, Unspecified Love Interest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:28:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25535107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frontierpodiatrist/pseuds/shinmegaymer
Summary: Daria receives a letter from her sister about a topic she herself isn't so versed in.
Relationships: Carmen/Micah (Rune Factory)
Kudos: 4





	World Renown Artist RAINBOW Extraordinaire, The Genius & Beautiful Daria

She wakes up just as the sun is beginning to rise, filtering in through the window by her bedside. The first thing on her mind is to feed the thing living in her toolbox, because when she leans over the bed to blindly grab for her hammer inside it bites her for the third time this week. She doesn’t know what it is or how it got in there (and she’s tried naming it but it doesn’t seem to enjoy that very much; she can’t see why because Teethy is an apt description) but it’s been a couple years and it hasn’t died or left yet so she’d like to think they’re friends at the very least. And it doesn’t chew on the knick knacks she keeps in there, so they’ve got a good pattern going. At least it didn’t _use_ to, but when she looks more closely at her hammer there’s little indents on the hilt. “You little ... ! Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to meddle with other people’s things?! I let you stay in there and this is how you - ”

Knock, knock. “Hello? Daria, are you in?” 

“Yup! Door’s open!” She gives the toolbox one last glare and a quick “this isn’t over,” spiel before Shara steps inside with a bouquet and a letter. “Good morning! I brought you some fire flowers - oh, are you alright? You’re bleeding!” She crosses the room in four quick strides to gently pull Daria’s hand (it bit her dominant hand, too, the rascal) into her own palm, thumbing the two little incisions below her knuckles.  
“Nah, I’m fine! It’s bitten me worse than this before.” Shara raises an eyebrow as if to ask what ‘it’ is, but she doesn’t ask so Daria just shrugs her shoulder towards the toolbox, eyes drawn to the letter she moved to her other hand. “What’s that?” Asking about it seems to startle her back into whatever was on her mind when she knocked on the door and she straightens up and presents it. Written across the front is Daria’s name in neat scripture and a smaller inscription towards the top saying it’s come from Selphia. “It’s for you! I’m sorry, I saw it sticking out of your mailbox, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Ooh, what do you think is in it?! Do you think she finally sent me those ores I was asking about?!”

“Daria I don’t think those would fit in an envelope this small - ”

“Oh, it’s just a letter again ...”

Shara tilts her head to take a quick look of the contents before leaning back again. “That’s very nice calligraphy. I didn’t know you had a sister!” She clasps her hands together with a joyous expression on her face and Daria has to take a moment to process before realizing Shara must be thinking of her own younger sibling. “We send each other letters every now and again. I left the northern forest first to become a world renown artist **_rainbow_** extraordinaire, genius of her trade! And Meggy wanted to explore the world, but she got scouted for her singing. She’s living in some town called Selphia now.”  
“Oh, I heard of that place! Raven says she visits there frequently to peddle Sakuya’s wares. She says there’s a lot of people!” Her guest smiles fondly like she’s thought of a sweet memory and holds the flowers to her chest. “Well, I’ll go plant these outside around your statue and give you some privacy. Have a nice day!” She gives a small wave and steps outside, Daria can hear her humming through the wall as she works the flowers into the ground. Left alone with the letter, Daria does the only thing she could possibly do and she reads it.

* * *

_Dear sister,_

_How have you been? It’s been a while since we last exchanged letters like this. That’s mostly my fault, I have been rather busy lately with customers and things going on about town. A lot has happened since we last talked and I would like to fill you in but there is something else I must ask your advice for. It’s caused me a lot of trouble and heartache recently and I was hoping you might have some guidance, any guidance as how to approach it._  
_I am close friends with someone here in Selphia and recently I have begun to experience feelings I have not with anyone else before. My heart starts racing and I just get so flustered, it’s not like me. This is the first time I’ve ever felt so embarrassed to write a song for someone. I often feel a strong urge to tease_ ~~ _her_~~ _them. I don’t understand what’s wrong with me. Is it perhaps a unique feeling of friendship or of love? I don’t want to be in love, because I am torn thinking about the two of us because one day I will outlive_ ~~_her_~~ _them. I sent you this in the hopes you might have some insight into what it is I’m feeling.  
That being said, I do remember your request for some special ore here, and I will have to speak to one of my friends about getting some to send to you. Expect to hear from me again soon, perhaps by way of package. _

_Your loving younger sister,  
Meg_

* * *

And after reading all of it, Daria feels perhaps the most bewildered she has ever felt before. While it’s very obvious Meggy seems to be in love, Daria hasn’t the faintest idea why she would ask her sister of all people for _love advice_ (she also can’t fathom as to why Meggy would go out of her way to make her ‘friend’ gender neutral when the crossed out words are still obviously visible). As the older sibling she’s always been sort of a figure to look up to but she’s not exactly the most ... well versed in this topic. And, well, clueless she may be, she can’t let down her baby sister. So she folds it back in half, neatly pressing it inside the envelope smelling like fruit, tucks it inside her hat, and heads up towards the Sharance tree.  
“Gooooooood _morning!_ Is my lovely assistant here!?” She doesn’t bother knocking on the door before she barges in, Micah is always up and awake before she is, usually gathering up his kids in a nice little row and feeding them like he does with his tamed monsters. It never fails to be hilarious to watch them all gathering around him and yelling with food in their mouths about this and that. He’s standing near the frying pan today, cooking something that smells _delightful,_ while his kids sit on the three stools around the dining table tossing a rubber ball among one another. “Auntie Daria!” Ray is the first up and sprinting towards her, but the other two follow shortly thereafter, on significantly more wobbly legs. They used to look a lot more like Micah but when summer came Ray and Lala got significantly more tan, and Leaf’s hair seems to be taking on a more green shade reminiscent of his mother. “Hello, my dear little helpers! Is your good-for-nothing daddy starving you?!”  
They all start yelling almost simultaneously, Ray almost twice as loud as his siblings about how he’s going to _die_ if he doesn’t eat, Leaf starts crying, and then Lala says “what does good-for-nothing mean?” and turns to her father inquisitively. “It seems like you have a lot of friends.” And the face that Micah gives her almost has her squealing with laughter. He sighs deeply, rubbing his temples as he flips whatever’s in his pan. “Daria, please stop trying to turn my kids against me so you can recruit them to help with your art projects.” Lala immediately trots over to him when he calls, dumping fried eggs and veggies on all 3 of their plates (the latter of which immediately causes Ray to grimace). Micah makes a gesture towards her to follow him upstairs as his kids begin to, rather loudly, chew their food, and she gleefully follows if only to avoid the sound.

“Do you need something?” he asks it almost immediately after they’re out of earshot.

“I can’t visit my beloved assistant?! Oh, the agony, the tragedy, the - ”

Micah cuts off her dramatic tirade before she really even gets into it with a, “You _can._ It’s just that you usually don’t come to visit this early. It’s like 8 AM. You normally come around at about 10, when the kids are done eating and out and about playing with Monica. _Sometimes_ when I’m not even home, and yes I notice because you eat the sardines in my fridge please stop doing that - ”

“Well, who else will eat them!”

“For one, Carmen loves fish so of course she would eat them. The kids like fish too, as do I, the sardines are not in danger of wilting away in our fridge. What do you even do in here anyway?”

Daria makes a dramatic show of throwing her hands up, putting on a rather exaggerated expression of absolute delight. “I’m ever so glad you asked! You see, your house is incredibly boring, so I’ve been thinking up some schematics to _redesign_ some things. You’ve already shot down my request to paint your mailbox and the tree because you’re ever so **BORING**! However, I’ve since thought to paint your barns and the storage box, and wouldn’t a rainbow forge just be absolutely stunning to work at! Think of all the nights you spend slaving away at a drab black forge and instead imagine this: the rainbow colours glistening in the moonlight coming from the window as you work!” She makes a show of gliding her hand in the air as a demonstration. “You don’t have to say anything, I know how beautiful and artistic it is! It’s a stroke of pure inspiration and genius! RAINBOW!”  
“I ... isn’t me buying your paintings and supporting your art enough? Do you really have to paint my things?” She doesn’t respond because the answer to the question is rather obvious and soon enough Micah breaks eye contact to sigh and give her an exasperated smile. “Alright. But _only_ the barns and the storage box, not the forge.” He looks back up to see her opening her mouth to argue but quickly cuts her off with a raised hand. “No ifs, ands, or buts. Anyways, back to the original topic. Did you need something?”  
Honestly, she’d almost forgotten once he mentioned her frequent trips to the Sharance tree, so preoccupied by the thought of painting that she neglected to bring up her original intent. “Yes! This morning I received a letter from my sister and while I normally wouldn’t ask other people for advice, this time she asked me about love! While I appreciate her asking me for advice, there isn’t anyone I love like Nako and Flame Boy! So I came to ask you if you had any answers. Because you’re married!”

“Well, if she’s having trouble I - ”

And just when he starts to answer, that’s when everything goes insane.

“Waaaa **aaaa** ** _aaaahhhhh!!!!!_** ”

“Look what you did, now Lala’s crying!”

“W-Why?! I didn’t do anything! W-Waa _aaah!_ ”

All 3 of the kids start sobbing and Micah wastes no time bolting down the steps, Daria close behind. The sight that greets them, however, is an ... interesting one. While all 3 of them are crying and wailing with tears and snot running down their face, none of them appear to be injured. Lala’s _inconsolable,_ crying into her dad’s chest about something Ray said about Micah leaving (for the day, but she apparently did not interpret it that way). Ray’s crying because Leaf was yelling at him, and Leaf is crying because the other two are. But more than that their food is absolutely everywhere on the table, and that tablecloth will definitely need a wash.  
“I’m sorry, Daria, I have to deal with this first. Why don’t you go talk to Carmen about it? She’s working at the resort today so she should be easy to find,” he starts gathering up the kids in his arms, dropping them all on the bed while they bawl their hearts out, and gets to work gathering up the kitchenware and the cloth to clean in the riverstream downstairs. She waves even though he’s not looking and leaves quietly to let him deal with ... that. She’s glad her and Meggy were never that dramatic with their fights, their parents wouldn’t have lasted.

Micah was right, Carmen is easy to find. She’s there behind the counter again, leaning on it with her head in her hands. “Welcome to Carlos’ Resort, where you can catch yourself plenty of rare fish! Oh, hey Daria. Want some more rainbow trout?” Daria waves her hand dismissively, bouncing, skipping almost, up to Carmen before fishing the letter out of her hat. “Not today! I wanted to ask Micah a question, but he’s dealing with some artistic circumstances, so he told me to come to my favourite model instead,” she finishes by sliding the letter across the table in between Carmen’s resting elbows (Carmen’s face flushes a bit at the model title, Daria painted a portrait of her when she was pregnant with Ray, of which is now proudly displayed in their living room). “My sister sent me a letter! She’s asking for love advice but I, as a single genius artist extraordinaire, have no answers for her.” Carmen definitely looks curious by the look on her face, but she doesn’t say anything before opening the envelope and reading it. It’s an odd feeling to watch Carmen’s face redden halfway through the letter, and then clear her throat and compose herself when she folds it back over again.  
“What ... what did you want to ask? Do you not know how to answer?” Daria nods rather vigorously. “Well, I ... obviously she’s in love with her friend. It sounds like she’s worried about outliving her friend? Like she wants you to clarify for her what she’s feeling and give her advice for the future. And that, uh, she’s oblivious, or that she’s trying not to notice she has feelings. You know, I did the same thing with Micah - ” and then Daria watches her cut herself off and then slowly turn extremely pink as she’s replaying embarrassing memories in her head. “You know, maybe ... maybe you should ask Carlos instead. He’s got a lot of experience dating people so he might, uh, have some answers ... ” She stops talking and covers her face with her hands, quietly berating herself.

So Daria puts the letter back in her hat and heads off to find Carlos.

She doesn’t have any idea where to go because Carmen was sort of useless at the end there after mentioning Micah, so the first thing she does is head towards any large body of water and hope for the best. When she does find him, she’s confused at best, because he’s on one of the little islands in the middle of Privera Forest’s lake and she doesn’t know how he got there because there’s no lily pad next to him so she just shouts from the shorebank. “CARLOOOOOOSSSSSSS! I HAVE SOMETHING TO ASK YOUUUUUUUUU!” After yelling she’s almost of the mind that she might have to swim over to him but he reels in a fish and throws her a thumbs up. He has a small knapsack that’s jumping all over the place that he puts the fish in, throws it over his shoulder, goes to the other end of the little island, and starts running at a ridiculously high pace.

Then he _jumps. To the shore._

If Daria was someone else, if she wasn’t who she is, she might’ve been scared by this act of athletic prowess. But as it is, she starts gushing. “That was the most inspired thing I’ve seen all week! How far up can you jump?! If I climbed on your shoulders and you jumped could we reach the moon?! Could I paint it then!? RAINBOW! Imagine seeing a rainbow moon when you went to bed, it doesn’t get any more marvelous than that!” Carlos preens under the attention, barking with his signature laugh. She’d been a bit surprised at the lack of monsters when she first arrived but with him jumping like that, it’s no surprise they would’ve all run off.  
“Ha ha ha! Admiring my hamstrings, are you?! Standing all day fishing gives me strong and powerful legs! I’m sure with enough training I could shoot the both of us all the way to the moon!” He stands at a wider stance to visibly flex the muscles in his legs, putting his knuckles on his hips in a pose reminiscent of a hero. “I bet I could jump that far even with you on my shoulders! I’m just that great, ha ha ha!” And with an offer like that on the table, who is Daria to say no to such a creative activity of bonding and adventure? So she motions for him to kneel and wastes absolutely no time jumping onto his back. As soon as she does, away they go.

Carlos runs at the speed of light.

She’s giggling the whole time, yelling about something or the other but she can’t even hear herself over the rush of air past her ears. He jumps across the river, doesn’t even bother going down the steps and over her rainbow bridge. And while this might normally cause her to take offense, she’s open to other inventive crossing alternatives. After she gets bored of simply running he takes her to one of her sculptures and jumps up until she can reach the top of their heads. With Carlos, why would she ever need to use a ladder again? Trying to paint with such a limited time in the air sounds like a fun idea, she mentally notes to ask him about it later. While they go about hopping and skipping all over the forest he tells her about something called the King Fish living in the lake, which sounds like a delightfully imaginative creature. She tells him if he ever catches it she wants to paint it in all sorts of pretty colours.

And just like that, it’s already past noon.

Carlos lets her down when the first sound of his stomach rumbling echoes through the air. He tells her he has to go back and start making himself dinner (after all, Carmen isn’t there anymore to make dinner for the both of them) and she says “Okay! Have an artistic evening!” but then she realizes, standing alone in the forest underneath one of her statues that she completely forgot to ask him anything about the letter, too whisked away by her own imagination. As the monsters begin to creep back after hiding she thinks, well, tough luck, back at it again tomorrow. But then she thinks, Micah should be free now, right? Carmen should be home. So she picks up her hat (it fell off at some point during all the motions and she hadn’t noticed until now when she needs it) and heads back into town again.

Micah and Carmen are quite visibly canoodling when she walks in, foreheads bumping together as they kiss over their dinner. Their kids are booing all the while, making retching noises as kids do. It’s all a bit intimate so Daria waits outside for a bit instead. She wouldn’t want to interrupt their moment, she already pesters Micah enough already. When they’ve put the kids to bed, she knocks quietly, waiting for the “come in,” from Carmen before she enters. Both of them look a tad bit surprised to see her, usually she doesn’t show up this late, but she’s sure she also looks a bit a mess from how much wind was whipping through her hair. “Daria? What’s up?” Carmen asks first, after pilfering through their closet for her nightgown.  
“I know I’ve been at this all day, but I still don’t have anything to reply to my sister with. Carlos did this really artsy thing with his legs and then I just sort of forgot to ask - ” she starts but Micah cuts her off _again_ with his palm outstretched, looking a bit red in the face. Carmen too. She didn’t say anything that bizarre, did she? He simply smiles, looking a bit embarrassed, and directs her outside. They stand on his porch, under the pink spring leaves of the Sharance Tree. “Do you mind if I read this letter?” he says, and she doesn’t waste any time before fishing it out of her hat. He seems to raise an eyebrow at the placement but it’s not like she’s got any pockets. It’s been an ongoing project to make some in her shorts, but altering clothing isn’t really her **thing** , you know? It’s just not quite the same. Leave that to Evelyn. “Daria.”

She snaps to attention when he suddenly calls her name with a much more serious tone than the situation calls for. “Aren’t you making this a bigger deal than it needs to be? You don’t really need anyone else’s advice, do you?” She opens her mouth to object, eyebrows pinched, but Micah keeps going. “Isn’t it just embarrassing for you to think about marriage and love? But that’s not really what your sister wants from you. Read it, what she wants is her big sister’s assurance that everything’s going to be alright. Do you remember what you said to me when you found out I was half monster?”  
She doesn’t wait before she nods, crossing her arms across her chest. “Of course I do. I told you nothing’s changed and then I asked for a full scale print! Of which you still haven’t given me, by the way.” He shakes his head fondly before redirecting her attention. “How’s what you said to me any different than what you should be saying to your sister? She’s worried about being a different race than her friend, isn’t she? She doesn’t want my advice, or Carmen’s, or Carlos, she wants _yours._ She wants you to tell her that nothing’s changed and that there’s nothing to be scared of. You get it, don’t you?”

And she does, suddenly, she does get it.

“Thank you, my dear assistant! Once again I owe it to you for your help!” He just stands there, leaning on his left side with a lopsided smile on his face. “Add it to your tab! Your sister’s waiting.” She just nods and waves him goodnight. He’ll still be there tomorrow but Meggy needs her help now. Her house is waiting for her when she gets back, the forest quiet with the sounds of bugs chirping and the wind blowing and rattling against her window. She never mentioned it to anyone, but living in Privera Forest reminds her of the northern forests way back when she still lived there. It comforts her.  
She finds parchment paper lying around in one of her scoop shaped chairs, but doesn’t have any pens so she fishes out some paint from the toolbox by her bed (she notices that it doesn’t bite her this time) and a paintbrush laying on one of her easels and she gets right to work.

* * *

_For my beloved Meggy,_

_I have been fantastic! Today was exciting, I had an eventful and amazingly artistic day with some of my dear friends and my most prized assistant. I hope that you meet him someday, he is a very good friend to me, and he has helped me many times before, and I hope more so in the future too._  
_For a bit, I was lost on how to help you. I am not an experienced person in the realms of friendship and romance. But at the end of the day, I realized some things. And so, this is what I will tell you. You’re in love, and I know that you know. So what if she’s a human and you’re an elf? Everybody has to croak someday, wouldn’t you rather be close with them while you still have the time? You can’t truly be happy with yourself if you hold yourself back because of the little things. If you love them, tell them! With that in mind, I’m going to send you a little secret spell to protect your new lover, so you better not disappoint me! If I don’t hear in your next letter that you’re dating I’ll be very, very, cross with you!_  
_I am very much looking forward for this package of ore! Dragonic stone sounds so very artistic, I can already hear the sculptures calling out my name! This ore will be the key to my next big piece, the one that will get me recognized by the greater world! Rainbow! I hope to hear from you soon!_

_From your big sister artist extraordinaire,  
The Genius and Beautiful Daria_

* * *

She flaps the letter back and forth for a couple minutes to let the paint dry before folding it and tying it together with a string of yarn. It might not look like a traditional letter, but she never followed traditions anyway. Deviation was always much more fun. While she wants to send it out as soon as possible, the growing ache in her bones catches up with her in a jaw cracking yawn and the stream of moonlight from her window. Tomorrow will be here soon enough. So she takes off her hat and her boots, strips down to her underclothes, and crawls into her blankets for a good night’s sleep.  
Daria wakes up slowly to a warm sun glowing down on her and she doesn’t waste any time before reaching in her toolbox for her hammer. Nothing bites her this time. Today is a new day. She makes a resolve to get it some snacks later today. The parchment letter is waiting at the foot of her bed already, and she snatches it in her hands and heads off to send it away. She spends the rest of her week preparing for her next big project, it doesn’t take long for Meggy’s package to arrive. It’s a **_beautiful_ **colour, and she doesn’t waste any time chiseling it away into a picture perfect portrait of what she imagines a King Fish would look like. When a week later she gets another letter, stained pink and sticky and smelling vaguely like fruit (like someone got flustered and spilled jam all over the paper), the fond smile on her face is something she could only attribute to her love for her sister.


End file.
